Yes, you're in the right place

I got sick of that yellow real fast so decided to switch things up around here again. Hope you all like the new, prickly design. This new design represents a new phase in the life of brinki-dink. You are now entering the 'tell it like you see it' zone. Raw, unedited viewpoints straight from the mind of 27 year old sales rep with poor spelling skills living in the desert with her long-haired boyfriend.

Raw topic number one: Blog Ads

I've noticed that many of my favorite blogs are selling out to advertisements these days. I'm usually the last one to know, shocked when I click to to get a dose of humor or reality from a favorite writer only to find that my text-bliss has been overshadowed by advertisements. I can see that there are temptations to doing so, mainly monetary temptations. I guess there's a lure to the possibility of making money for writing a blog, especially for those who put a lot of thought and time into their posts. So many people read blogs on a daily basis and the readers aren't paying anything for the entertainment. So, why not seek another source?

Ads just seem a little sleazy to me. One of the things I love so much about the blogosphere is that bloggers are independent. We don't have to answer to anybody, there's nobody censoring us or telling us what to write about. We have the privledge to choose what we do, when we do it. I imagine that if you agree to sell your blog out to a conglomerate that you then succumb to a set of rules or standards of conduct for your blog. Advertisers, I'm guessing, probably don't have the same kind of pull. But, by selling space on your blog to advertisers you loose some of that precious independence.

So, when I see some of my very favorite blogs morphing into corporate templates I loose a little of my ideology. I want my favorite authors to get paid for their work, but do they really have to go corporate? I guess that's a bit better than the alternative which seems to be slathering your blog with advertisements. It's so ugly and impersonal to see ads for random TV shows or gadgets flanking the posts you are there to read. I doubt said bloggers actually endorse all of the products they so prominently display on their web pages.

I'd have to be making a shitload of money to put an ad for hair cream or MSNBC on this puppy. I vow here and now not to sell out my little blog to advertisers or corporations (not that it would be worth that much anyway). This woman is independent and planning to stay that way.